AUS Tertiary Update

“Retrograde” film change proposal rejectedVictoria
University’s proposal to disestablish its film programme
has been decisively rejected in the report of the decision
panel appointed to consider the proposed changes and
submissions on them. The original proposal would have tied a
truncated cinema studies programme to the university’s art
history and museum and heritage studies programmes and the
Adam Art Gallery in a new visual culture
“cluster”.It would also have ended undergraduate
teaching of film production and replaced the five existing
academic positions with three new ones and was described by
Associate Professor Russell Campbell, the head of the film
programme, as “profoundly retrograde”. The decision
panel appears to agree with Dr Campbell, rejecting the
proposed changes to film, leaving it in its present location
with theatre, English and media studies, retaining the
existing staff numbers, and dismissing the term “visual
culture”, as “potentially divisive”.The panel’s
report is in response to more than 100 written submissions,
the great majority opposing the changes, and a
1220-signature petition organised by the Victoria branch of
the Association of University Staff opposing the
disestablishment of film. As well as rejecting most of the
proposed changes, the report also supports the future
establishment of a Centre for Art Research and Museum
Studies involving art history, museum and heritage studies,
the art gallery, and some “research into aspects of the
moving image”. In addition, it suggests the establishment
of a centre or institute for the study of film that would
develop “a carefully crafted programme that combines both
theory and production”.To that end, the report
proposes the appointment of a director and the establishment
of a working party by the vice-chancellor to carry out the
necessary planning and strategic work. The working party
would comprise no more than five members, including an
independent chairperson and a staff member from each of
film, design, and a cognate programme. It would consult with
undergraduate and postgraduate students and staff in film
and theatre as well as representatives of the film industry,
and report within no more than four months.AUS Victoria
branch president, Dr Stephen Blumenfeld, welcomed the
report. “The decision panel was undoubtedly influenced by
the overwhelming support the union’s campaign received
from staff, students, and concerned members of the
public,” he said. “Throughout the campaign, there were a
number of very heartening displays of solidarity and concern
for staff and students potentially affected by the proposal.
This demonstrates the need for greater staff and student
participation in any change proposal arising from the
university’s investment plan,” he concluded.

Also in
Tertiary Update this week1. AUS calls for coherence in
Auckland governance2. Elitism or diversity at
Auckland?3. Top three take extra postgraduate
funding4. Chinese students on the rise
again5. Panels secretly ordered to shred research
records6. Endowments with strings attached7. First
Franglais, then Danglish8. The money’s got to come
from somewhere

AUS calls for coherence in Auckland
governanceAn AUS submission to the Royal Commission on
Auckland Governance calls for “a coherent process for
communication and decision-making between local and regional
governance that is valued by all the parties and that
clearly identifies community and citizen participation
throughout”. The commission has been established by the
Government to investigate, and make recommendations on,
local and regional government arrangements for the Auckland
region in the future.The submission argues that the type
of coherent process for which it is calling could usefully
be employed to bring together the Tertiary Education
Commission, tertiary-education providers, communities,
business, and industry to develop a long-term plan for
tertiary-education provision in the Auckland region. Noting
the importance of such planning for greater Auckland, the
submission emphasises the need to acknowledge both a greater
degree of diversity and competition among institutions and
population growth faster in Auckland than anywhere else in
Aotearoa New Zealand.AUS suggests that this model of
cross-sector collaboration at a regional and strategic level
could also assist with achieving the goals of the national
tertiary-education strategy, which seeks to move
tertiary-education provision to a more strategically focused
planning process that considers both regional and national
objectives for education and training.Beyond the
tertiary-education sector, the submission supports,
regardless of the precise governance model finally adopted,
greater coherence and co-ordination for the region that will
provide a better alignment of functions and funding
mechanisms respondimg to the mandate given at each level of
local and regional government. These, it says, might include
environmental safeguards, regional cultural and recreational
facilities, civil defence, and transport infrastructure,
especially public transport.Summarising its central
concerns, the AUS concludes that any future governance model
must emphasise a greater degree of accountability across the
region to the diverse communities that reside there;
increased communication among councils, particularly in
terms of sharing policy and processes and especially those
defined by legislation; a cohesive approach to region-wide
issues such as water, transport, and road systems; and
flexibility to allow local decision-making while taking
cognisance of issues that affect the region more
broadly.

Elitism or diversity at Auckland?A report
prepared by Undergraduate Admissions and Equity Taskforce
comprising staff and students of the University of Auckland
has recommended “the development of elaborate admission
policies to better diversify the student body”, according
to the NZ Herald. The taskforce was formed when the
university decided late last year to restrict entry to all
courses as its response to a government funding shift from
“bums on seats” to a model based on agreed
outcomes.Among the recommendations adopted by the
university’s council is to keep a single ranking system
for measuring the academic achievements of prospective
students but to “carefully review” students achieving a
low score on that system. Opponents of restricted entry
argue that creative arts students may be penalised by that
ranking system, that already under-represented groups will
be disadvantaged, and that entry restriction marks a
“return to elitism”, according to the Herald.The
university’s deputy vice-chancellor (academic), Professor
Raewyn Dalziel, who also chaired the taskforce, is quoted as
saying that, “As a university we are committed to academic
excellence and to reflecting the diverse communities which
we serve. The report provides a clear framework for managing
entry in a way that is fair and equitable.”These
assurances are rejected out of hand by the Quality Public
Education Coalition (QPEC), which describes the restriction
policy as “deplorable” and the report as an attempted
“whitewash”. Reflecting that schools work hard to get
students up to the level of university requirements, QPEC
says that Auckland “will now give many of these students
the fingers”. “This university,” it adds, “would
prefer to create an elitist institution for New Zealand and
overseas students from priviliged backgrounds ahead of
opportunities for local students.” Identifying Māori and
Pasifika students as among those most likely to be
disadvantaged by the new policy, the coalition predicts that
they will “face yet another hurdle to university
study”.The University of Auckland lags behind AUT,
Massey, Otago, Victoria, and Waikato universities in its
proportion of full-time-equivalent Māori students,
according to the Herald story.

Top three take extra
postgraduate fundingEducation Review reports that three
universities, Auckland, Canterbury, and Otago, have received
more than $2 million in additional funding from the Tertiary
Education Commission (TEC) Priorities for Focus fund to
enrol more postgraduate students or provide extra support
for those already enrolled. The money is in addition to
their normal funding through the Student Achievement
Component.As well as enabling the three universities to
enrol several hundred more postgraduates, the article
suggests, the additional money could increase their share of
the Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF) because of the
consequent increase in postgraduate completions. The three
universities already top the PBRF scores.According to
Education Review, the University of Otago received the
greatest share of the new money, $1 million, for “support
for postgraduate students in order to achieve the target for
increased proportions of postgraduate students” and to
support specific, targeted undergraduate
enrolments.Despite the University of Auckland receiving
$850,000 specifically “for additional postgraduate
students”, it announced that the money would be used to
support existing students and not to take in more. The
University of Canterbury received $750,000 on the same
basis.In addition to the postgraduate funding, Massey
University was awarded $900,000 for its Kia Maia strategy
for Māori development of and investment in technology and
Lincoln University $500,000 to improve strategies for
“meeting stakeholder needs” in key agricultural
areas.The TEC tertiary network director, David
Nicholson, is quoted as saying that TEC has no agenda to
establish particular “research universities”. “The
[PBRF] has indicated that Auckland, Otago, and Canterbury
Universities have very considerable research strengths and
depth. The TEC seeks to support and further enhance those
strengths through its funding, just as it does for the
particular research strengths of each university,” he
said.AUT, Victoria, and Waikato Universities did not
receive any Priorities for Focus funding.

Chinese students
on the rise againBucking a trend that appears to be
dogging two of its competitors for international students,
Australia and the United Kingdom, New Zealand’s education
system is apparently experiencing a rebound in enrolments by
Chinese students.Their numbers soared in New Zealand in
2003 and 2004 to the extent that some universities drew as
many as a quarter of their students from overseas, mostly
from China. But numbers have been dropping steadily ever
since, though the pipeline effect of that boom is still
working its way through the system.Last year, however,
new enrolments by Chinese students rose for the first time
since 2001-02 and, this year, new enrolments are expected to
rise again, according to export-education industry body
Education New Zealand. The organisation’s communications
director, Stuart Boag, said new Chinese enrolments are
likely to exceed 3,500 for 2007-08, an increase of 20
percent on the previous year.“We haven’t seen a
number like that since 2003-04,” Mr Boag said, adding that
Chinese students are reappraising New Zealand after a phase
when first Australia and then Britain were “flavour of the
year”. “The Chinese student of today is looking around
in a fairly discerning way and New Zealand is not coming up
short,” he said.Mr Boag added that, despite several
years of decline in overall numbers, Chinese students are
still the single largest bloc of long-term international
students, with most in the university sector. They are
closely followed by Japanese and Korean students, who are
concentrated in short-term programmes at English language
colleges and primary and secondary schools.Unlike New
Zealand, the UK recently recorded a drop in new Chinese
enrolments and Australia has suffered a fall in new
enrolments by foreign students overall, although China
remains the biggest supplier.From John Gerritsen in
University World News

World WatchPanels secretly
ordered to shred research recordsA funding council team
has secretly instructed panels assessing academics’ work
as part of the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), the UK
equivalent of the PBRF, to destroy all records of how they
reach their conclusions, Times Higher Education has
revealed.The move, which has been condemned by a
freedom-of-information campaign group, is aimed at avoiding
challenges to panel decisions by academics using
freedom-of-information or data-protection laws. It will see
evidence such as notes and minutes explaining the panels’
decision-making process shredded before the final RAE
results are published.In a confidential letter sent to
panel members last November, Ed Hughes, head of the team
managing the RAE on behalf of the UK’s four funding
bodies, including the Higher Education Funding Council for
England, sets out a timetable for the destruction of
records. These include personal notes taken by panel members
and the panel secretariat, workbooks recording emerging
decisions about each submission, and draft minutes of
meetings.The leaked letter warns that, if academics on
the panels make personal notes and hold them for longer than
twenty days, they may need to be released to comply with
legislation if a “relevant request for information” is
received.“We strongly wish to avoid dealing with such
requests and the associated burden they would place on panel
members and the secretariat. It is for this reason that we
ask you to exercise caution in creating personal notes,
destroy them at the latest twenty days after creation, and
do not disseminate them,” it says.Maurice Frankel, the
director of the Campaign for Freedom of Information,
described the approach as “extremely negative” and said
that the RAE team had “lost all sense of
proportion”.From Zoe Corbyn in Times Higher
Education

Endowments with strings attachedWhen Stanley
J Seeger gave Princeton $NZ2.4 million for Hellenic studies
nearly three decades ago, the gift’s income paid for two
courses in modern Greek and trips to Greece for five. The
Seeger money, however, which must be spent only on matters
Greek, is now worth over $39 million, multiplying through
aggressive investing like the rest of Princeton’s
endowment.So the university offers Greek, Greek, and
more Greek. “Institutions do get shaped by the interests
of donors,” said Robert K Durkee, vice-president and
secretary of Princeton.As the nation’s wealthiest
colleges and universities report on their finances to
Congress, seeking to head off federal requirements that they
spend at least 5 percent of their ever-growing endowment
income, new attention is being paid to how endowments are
structured, and on the restrictions imposed by
donors.Aides to the Senate Finance Committee, which sent
out a query in January about endowment practices to the 136
wealthiest colleges and universities, say they have received
131 responses and have begun to scrutinise them. The
responses, some of which universities have made public, show
that at some, including Harvard and the University of Texas,
80 percent or more of the endowment is constrained by
donors’ wishes.Recent interviews with college
officials show that, while many restrictions are for broad
uses like faculty chairs and student aid, others are less
central to the functioning of a modern university. Some are
outright quirky.“Endowment funds are in some ways like
a museum,” said Mark G Yudof, the chancellor of the
University of Texas System. “Sometimes they are visionary.
Sometimes they aren’t. Land titles was a big business in
another era; now, professors and students are not that
interested in the subject.” From Karen W Arenson in
the New York Times

First Franglais, then DanglishA new
report from an ad-hoc language committee warns about the
demise of native language instruction at universities in
Denmark. The Danish Language Council has recommended changes
to university legislation to oblige universities “to
ensure the Danish language doesn’t disappear completely
from higher education”.In the past twenty-odd years,
universities in small western-European countries such as
Denmark and the Netherlands have readily embraced English as
the language of instruction in large parts of higher
education. Today, the net result for students is that the
world is their oyster and the net result for universities is
that they have placed themselves in more attractive
positions in the market for international students than some
of their bigger neighbours elsewhere in Europe.But the
swift advance of English as the main language of instruction
comes at a price. Some countries are worried that eventually
their small languages will come under threat. Others, such
as Denmark, are concerned that university graduates will no
longer be able to share their achievements with their own
nationals in their mother tongue. Such at least was one of
the conclusions in the report.The scale of the problem
is indicated by the statistics: at the Copenhagen Business
School, almost half of the teaching is now in English; at
the Danish University of Technology, English is now the sole
language of instruction in all postgraduate
programmes.“Universities must work at the cutting edge
of their fields of study and the English language is crucial
for them,” acknowledges Sabine Kirchmeier-Andersen who, as
director of the Danish Language Council, was a member of the
committee. “But they also have a responsibility to
disseminate their knowledge for the benefit of society. They
cannot leave it all to journalists who often do not have
sufficient background knowledge to effectively pass on this
information.”From Ard Jongsma in University World
News

The money’s got to come from somewhereA
Scottish university principal, the equivalent of a New
Zealand vice-chancellor, who had recently criticised
under-funding in higher education, spent $NZ71,000 of public
money on sprucing up his two bathrooms. The lavish costs
were part of a $118,000 makeover for the official residence
of the University of Dundee’s Sir Alan Langlands, who
subsequently backed a round of redundancies.The $71,000
went on items including new fittings, wiring, plumbing, and
a water pump. The costs increased following a dispute over
the quality of one of the new bathroom’s fittings, which
had to be pulled out and replaced. Sir Alan also splashed
out $6500 on painting and decorating costs, while $18,000
was found for the replacement of original sash-and-case
windows. Another $13,500 was doled out for “general
maintenance work”.Perhaps understandably in view of
this expenditure, Sir Alan, who has been Dundee’s
principal since 2000, recently described the Scottish
government’s funding package for universities as
“disappointing”.The university had planned to extend
its voluntary redundancy scheme in order to deal with its
tight financial position and it had already pushed through
severance packages for staff as a way of servicing the
university’s deficit. However, figures obtained by the
Sunday Herald reveal that these financial problems had not
prevented the principal’s residence from receiving the
$118,000 facelift in 2004-05.The work was approved by
the university secretary under powers delegated by the
university court without a vote.From Paul Hutcheon in
the Scottish Sunday Herald

More international newsMore
international news can be found on University World
News:http://www.universityworldnews.com

AUS Tertiary
Update is compiled weekly on Thursdays and distributed
freely to members of the Association of University Staff and
others. Back issues are available on the AUS website:
www.aus.ac.nz. Direct inquiries should be made to the
editor, email:
editor@aus.ac.nz.

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